Just beginning its soft-launch phase, the Spartan One-Stop is now offering virtual support to those contacting the three offices. This does not replace the existing offices; all three will remain alongside One-Stop.

Spartan One-Stop Director Colleen Thoman said the department was created to ease student experiences with the individual offices and save expertise for special cases. The goal is to have 85% of cases be handled by One-Stop while the remaining 15% will be specialty calls directed to their parent shops.

Thoman, who was hired at MSU to fill this new position, has spent the past year building the department. She said this new division of MSU has created jobs, as some faculty were transferred from other departments and many were hired, but there were no layoffs. 

The initiative was inspired by other universities with similar styled One-Stop departments who have found it to be better for students, Thoman said. 

Thoman has high hopes for the new MSU department and said it prioritizes students. A main goal of the streamlining is to help students when they call without directing them somewhere else, being effective while increasing satisfaction and decreasing frustration.

"It really allows the students to focus on what they're here to do, which is learn," Thoman said.

The change is welcomed among some of the student body who have experienced the issues Thoman said they're hoping to resolve with the new division's creation. 

English freshman Parker Fielstra has experienced some of these challenges.

Fielstra has a history with financial aid that has left her dissatisfied and frustrated. She said she has called the office and waited on hold for over an hour, just to have a brief conversation and be told to call another department, such as billing, and repeat the entire process.

The previous system did not operate in a functional manner and lacked internal connection and communication, Fielstra said.

"It's like a goose chase," Fielstra said. "It’s a rarity for them to answer immediately … You’re pretty lucky if you’re getting a hold of them without waiting at least an hour."

While her past experiences have been disappointing, Fielstra is hopeful for the future with the addition of this new department. She said services like financial aid are vital to life on campus and making them easier for students could make a big difference.

"It would be easier for students to navigate," Fielstra said, "There’s a lot of responsibility in that department; they can make or break if someone has a place to live."

Thoman said student feedback will be incorporated into One-Stop as soon as it is fully operational. This will be done via surveys and feedback forms offered to users after their cases are closed and questions answered. 

The Spartan One-Stop is expected to be completely virtually operational by November of this year. This means all calls and emails to the registrar, financial aid and student accounts will instead be directed to the new department. 

The physical office will open in May 2025 in the Hannah Administration Building.